Are Fully Covered Metal Stents Superior to Plastic Stents for Preoperative Biliary Decompression in Malignant Distal Bile Duct Obstruction?

Pancreaticoduodenectomy is curative option in periampullary tumor. Preoperative endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatog-raphy (ERCP) is usually undertaken in patients with resectable disease to relieve biliary obstruction, which is thought to impair immune response, clotting, and other functions that impact intraoperative and postoperative outcomes. Despite conflicting data pertaining to preoperative biliary drainage, ERCP with biliary stenting has become standard practice in patients with periampullary malignancies. In a recent multicenter randomized trial, patients who underwent preoperative biliary drainage had a 74% rate of complications compared with 39% for those who directly underwent surgery without preoperative biliary drainage. In this trial, however, all patients underwent placement of plastic stents. In ERCP, self-expandable metal stent are being increasingly placed for palliation of malignant biliary obstruction. Compared with plastic stents, self-expandable metal stents have large caliber and have demonstrated longer patency duration. Even in patients with resectable malignant disease, self-expandable metal stents which are placed below the level of transection may not impair technical outcomes at surgery and can be safely removed along with the surgical specimen.

This prospective study is designed to compare the incidence of stent-related adverse events, the re-intervention rate, the effectiveness of biliary drainage, surgical outcomes and hospital stays in patients with periamupllary tumors who are undergone with self-expandable metal stents or plastic stents placement for preoperative biliary drainage